The present invention relates to an industrial robot device, and in particular to the mounting of a robot to a processing machine with which the robot is to be employed.
In conventional robot systems absolute X and Y axes assumed by the software used for driving the robot are set in fixed directions with respect to the robot body. To ensure effective MDI operations, the robot should be mounted to the lathe or other processing machine with which it is employed in such a manner that the X and Y axes of the machine and the X and Y axes assumed by the software are accurately aligned. (See, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 1980-21362). (MDI operations involve entering the values for the directions of the X and Y axes with respect to the robot, and the X and Y dimensions, and moving the robot to the required positions).
However, it is generally the case that the direction of the X and Y axes of the software are not indicated on the body of the robot. Moreover, the boltholes provided for attaching the robot to the attachment base of the lathe or the like allow a certain degree of slack, and hence it is not always the case that the X and Y axes of the software and the X and Y axes of the processing machine are correctly aligned with each other. When there occurs such misalignment of the X and Y axes of the robot software and the X and Y axes of the processing machine, the movements of the robot may interfere with the processing machine, and thus there is the danger of damage to either or both of these assemblies.